The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1887-12-27
The City OF Savannah, Ga.
Extracts from Col. 4rery'S Article in the ia
uarU HnTper's

The City OF Savannah, Ga.
Extracts from Col 4rery's Article in the jan
uarp Harper's.
No city Of the Union blends more palpa-
bly, the old and thu new than Savannah
The place has to large extent kept its early
individuality. 1t has broad, shaded streets
rolling in primitive sand, and lined with
| old-fashioned residences, with "A stately
! flavor of the aristocratic about them, and
even the new and more elegant homes avoid
the gorgeous phylactery of modern fashion.
| The past is living presence in this beauti-
| full old city. The statues and monuments
| greet one with their historic memories, and
tell mutely, yet with eloquence, of eventful
| annals.
The city and commonwealth were coeval
with each other, founded together. and
with Their annals honorably linked. Savan-
nah enjoys the distinction of long being tn e
| germ of the State, and could the noble
knight, statesman and gentleman Sir
James Oglethorpe, the heroic founder of
| both, have been able to look into the future
and have seen his modest little municipal
venture become the first naval stores station
| in the world, the second cotton port of the
American continent, and the headquarters
Of the greatest railway and steamship
transportation system of the South, as it
has, his great heart would have throbbed
/
had planted we'll
On the afternoon of the first day of Feb
ruary, 1888 %. s., Oglethorpe landed at
| Yamacraw Bluff on the Savannah river
with liz colonists. This spot, in a direct
line, is only twelve miles from the sea- but
the winding of the river lengthens the dis
lance to eighteen miles, The site is the first
elevation above the stream, and consisted
of lofty bluff of sand, with a dense
| inf
est the colonists cut an opening and ar
ranged quaint little plan OF a place, remind
| ing one OF childs toy town, with every
| thing precise and rectangular-streets,
houses, and squares laid off mathemati-
cally and alike. The system
of commodious public parks at
regular intervals is the glory of this Forest
| City" and constitutes one of its most beau
| tiful and healthy features. As the city ex-
| tended, these open spots were continued in
the same benehcent plan, until there are
| dozens of them, shady with great trees
green with velvety swards, threaded by
broad walks, and many of them ornate with
monuments and fountains The broader
streets strike them in the centre, and mar
row streets pass by them, while they are
confronted by homes and churches.
| The bluff upon which Savannah reposes
rises abruptly some forty feet, and extends
| a mile on the river from which it receives
| its name. On each side of the city on the
| river the land consists of low swamps and
| creeks that have admitted Of little improve
ment, and only Of rice culture, and that
have bred disease and invited epidemics.
| In the writer's recollection there were de-
| structive visitations of yellow fever in 1854,
1855 and 1876, paralyZing business and de-
| stroying life. But in the year 1877 the Leg
| islature of Georgia made an appropriation
| of one-third of the tax of the county of
| Chatham, in which Savannah lies,
amounting to S27 1888 73, for the
drainage OF these swamps. The low,
dank, unhealthy marshes were con-
verified into smiling truck farms and rich
vegetable gardens The beautiful city no
| longer wrestles with the burden of malarious
environment that surrounded it with bale
full vapors, and bred deadly sickness at in
tervals Aside from the moral and sanitary
effects so immeasurable, it has in the trans
| formation of black boys into GASES of fer
| tility created a growing and profitable truck
| industry. From the records of the Ocean
| Steamship Company, that valuable scheme
of transportation, we learn that in 1881 the
steamers carried North $1,000 packages of
vegetables. The business has grown to go, :
900 packages, and the local production has
increased to 81, 200.
| From an early period the social lines of
| demarcatlon were very broadly marked. AS
much of an aristocracy was built up las this
country will allow. Old families, rich from
| commerce or planting, at the head Of great
| cotton houses or baronial plantations of
slaves, with large incomes and the oppor-
tunity and taste for leisure, luxury and
culture, brought home life to a degree of
polish and elegant exclusiveness that could
| not be surpassed anywhere. The prohibi-
ton against slavery and spirits was early
removed, it being found on trial that the
colony was at disadvantage in rivalry
| with its neighbors, and the people soon
| became the posseSsors of great estates of
slaves, and practiced a refined conviviality.
| Hospitality ripened into fine art, and
never Powered to more exquisite display
than in this city. The men were lordly,
honorable, chivalric and Thoroughbred.
They were college-educated, well-read and
| well-traveled, Impractical in labor-that is,
the planters-laylsh with money, dressed
fashionably, and noted for their courtesy
and respect to women. A European lady
said she would know Savannah. raised
blooded, given to the professions, naturally
eloquent and fond of pleasure The women
were pure, luxurious, modest and thoroughly
| feminine They were absolutely helpless, so
far as the practical world was concern
ed, and wholly depended upon father, hus-
band, brother, OF son. 1t was part of this
civilization that the male members of a
|
has been an ornamental type of woman
hood. Every social and educational advant-
age was enjoyed by the young women.
They were prot scted from rude associations,
tonderly nurtured, taught accomplish
ments, their morals and manners cultivated
and every feminine grace fostered and de
veloped. There has never been a
finer strain of ladies; and they were
trained for presiding as house
keepers as well as for shin
ing in the parlor. While screened from
hardship, labor and exposure, they were
taught the management Of servants and
domestic administration of large households,
requiring tact and energy. The bond be-
tween the old and young mistresses and
their family servants was a close and tender
one, and the domestic help of that regime
was peculiarly faithful and skilled. and
noted for its Difference and devotion. IL is
fast passing away, and the house service
under the later civilization cannot compare
to it. In the olden time wealthy and even
ordinary homes were stocked with servants
who did but one thing
The new era has much changed the old
condition. When, in the vicissitudes of the
clty's varied career, the dainty denizens of
the palatial mansions were forced to peddle
gingercakes from the easements. the SER
wants gone, it was pathetic spectacle. The
old social aristocracy has been thinned.
New ideas have come in, and the old
baronial civilization is gone; but tho